Several Hundred From L.v. Rally In D.c

Pennsylvanians were well represented in yesterday's anti-abortion march, with several hundred people coming from the Allentown area and thousands more from around the state.

Bishop Thomas J. Welsh of the Diocese of Allentown was at the front of yesterday's march, and he called it "one of the best ever."

Welsh, and most of the Pennsylvanians here yesterday, brought harsh criticism for Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, who is up for re-election, for his voting record on abortion issues.

Welsh called Specter's position on abortion "abysmal," and members of the Lehigh County chapters of Pennsylvanians for Human Life said they were supporting Democratic candidate Don Bailey in the upcoming Senate election.

Bailey, currently the state auditor general, is "100 percent pro-life," said Joeseph Daegon, II, of Bethlehem.

Voting records of all congressmen were handed to the marchers, and appointments were scheduled with members of Congress from around the country, to praise those against abortion and to challenge those who support a legal right to abortion.

Encouraged by a telephone address from President Reagan at noon and several speeches from "pro-life" congressmen, Pennsylvanians filled a Senate meeting room to tell Specter they were not happy with his record.

"When you're defeated this election year, will that have any bearing on your thoughts?" asked one man who said he has come every year to talk to Specter about his position. "Is there anything that will change your mind?" he asked.

Though Specter voted to prohibit federal funding of abortion, he does not support a Constitutional amendment outlawing it.

"I don't like abortion, and I would not practice abortion," Specter said. But "I don't believe it is my business to make that decision for other people," he said, drawing sighs and moans from the audience.

Kay Ann Mulligan organized the buses from the Lehigh Valley for the sixth year, and said it is just a matter of time before abortion is made illegal again.

"As more and more people are educated they'll see that it is human life" that is at stake, Mulligan said.

"We're concerned that innocent life is protected from the moment of conception" she said, adding that the Human Life groupalso opposes those methods of birth control which she said in effect commit abortion, such as the intrauterine device and some birth control pills.

Ed Johnstone, from Schnecksville, echoing the views of the bishop and many other Pennsylvanians here yesterday, said he is concerned about the "decline in morality" in this country.

"More often than not we try not to think about the consequences" of difficult decisions, he said, in reference to abortion. Johnstone believes that rather than abort, mothers should opt for adoption.

Johnstone, a self-avowed conservative Republican, will probably not support Specter either, he said, and might even reregister as a Democrat in order to vote for Bailey in the Democratic primary.

The major "pro-choice" organizations had no formal counter demonstrations planned yesterday, but Tuesday the National Organization of Women announced a nationwide rally and march on March 9.

Yesterday, in front of the Supreme Court, about 60 women voiced their support for the right to an abortion and criticized the anti-abortion protesters for what one woman called a "lack of concern for the living."

A woman, who would identify herself only as Joan, said: "We'd like to see them show a little more respect for the children that are already alive, and not just for the preborn."